The Taylor Swift Criticism That Billy Corgan Can’t Understand

In times of singles and one-off releases on streaming platforms, one of the most popular artists of the moment insists on releasing full albums — and relatively long ones, it must be said: Taylor Swift shows no signs of changing the formula for its success. And Billy Corganleader of the Smashing Pumpkinsdoesn’t understand who criticizes her because of this.

In an interview with The Irish Timesthe vocalist and guitarist made a connection between the legacy of Sinéad O’Connor and the criticism he himself received for the long duration of his band’s most recent work, the rock opera Tunareleased between 2022 and 2023 and divided into three parts. The subject came to Taylor Swift and Corgan made his defense.

The musician said:

“Let’s go back to Sinéad for a second. Now that Sinéad is gone, it would be bad if someone came along tomorrow and said, ‘Hey, I found this tape and there’s enough[material]for 20, 30, 50 Sinéad songs.’ Would that be a bad thing? Taylor Swift is one of the most talented pop artists of all time. How is it a bad thing that she’s releasing more music? I don’t understand it… You can go on Spotify and just skip it.”

The comment was made as Swift faced criticism over the length of her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. The album in its conventional version has 16 tracks and 65 minutes. In the double configuration, which comes with The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthologythere are another 15 songs, with an additional 57 minutes. In total, the material is 122 minutes long — just over two hours.

When recalling the situation, Corgan did not fail to speak again about Tuna. The trio of albums totals 138 minutes distributed across 33 tracks.

“People complained about the length of my last album, Tuna. I thought, ‘Well, go and make your own playlist. ‘ Just listen to the record once – take the 6 or 10 songs you like and make your own record.”

Praise for Taylor Swift

Billy Corgan is not the only rock musician to recognize Taylor Swift’s talent. On the contrary: some names in heavy music never tire of praising her, not only for her work in the studio, but also live. This is the case of David Draimanlead singer of Disturbedwho spoke about the singer during a show by her band.

Earlier this year, during a performance in Peoria, Illinois, in the United States, Draiman brought on stage two fathers with their 12-year-old daughters. Happy to have younger fans in the audience, he said:

“So I’m assuming the fact that you guys came to the Disturbed show instead of the Taylor Swift show means your parents are raising you on rock and roll. But hey, don’t forget: Taylor Swift still rocks.”

Some fans reacted to David’s speech with boos. The singer not only asked for the negative demonstration to end, but also explained why Swift deserves the respect of the heavy metal audience.

“Don’t boo her. You know what? I will stand up and applaud any pop artist who gets on stage and sings live and plays live guitar in front of a whole group of thousands of young girls and boys, young fans.”

Finally, Draiman praised the singer’s ability to perform shows without playback and with real instruments — she didn’t give up performing with the guitar in her hands even after becoming a pop star.

“Don’t talk shit about Taylor Swift. She’s the real deal. And she’s making sure a whole generation of new music fans understand what it means to really play live music.”

@vsprice7

Disturbed’s David defends Taylor Swift to his fans at tonight’s concert in Peoria, Il after bringing two 12-year olds up on stage to rock with them.

♬ original sound – Tori

Another notable rock musician who has recently publicly praised Taylor Swift was the lead singer and guitarist of Kiss, Paul Stanley. He took his wife and daughters to a show by the artist in Los Angeles, United States, in 2023. The result? He left the place impressed with what he saw, as he recorded on his X profile:

“I took Erin, Sarah and Emily to see Taylor Swift last night! Six shows at SoFi Stadium for a total of HALF A MILLION PEOPLE and I know why… PHENOMENAL SHOW BY A PHENOMENAL ARTIST. Thanks to her team for rolling out the red carpet for us.”

In turn, Eddie Vedder compared the artist’s show to a punk performance, especially due to the audience. This is because, as he explained during an interview with the magazine Mojo (via Igor Miranda website), there is a sense of unity among the people present, who create and exchange so-called “friendship bracelets”.

“There’s a whole build-up to the show, with girls and boys making friendship bracelets and exchanging them with each other, which had different messages on them, from lyrics to song titles. It shows the generosity behind the act. They found their tribe, everyone was agreeing on something. The crazy thing was that it reminded me of punk rock audiences, being aligned with all the misfits in our city back in the day. It was exciting and powerful.”

With collaboration from André Luiz Fernandes.